"they were all together in one place...(v1)...
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."
ACTS 2 (ESV)
More profound than the barbarism and extreme subhuman behaviour of those who torture, bomb and starve, has been the beauty of the international family of Jesus Christ seen in the world theatre and stage spotlight of Ukraine during the last 3 weeks.
Prior to the scattering of God's people (ACTS 2), the church was in one place physically, ideologically and functionally. As their transparent love for each other became known it authenticated the countercultural news they preached (John 13:35) that there is one who unites people beyond all boundaries and polarities of culture (Gal 3:28), one who brings; order out of chaos, dignity out of despair, joy out of desolation, and a bright future for those facing a destiny of doom. Only in Christ is this truly possible and manifoldly exercised by the pivotal historical events of his death and resurrection.
One of the great ironies of the "progress" of the last 20 years and the process of globalisation is that people are now segregating across the world into dysfunctional tribalism. The very thing that offered unification now separates. We have never been more connected technologically (cyber warfare, international banking, crypto, blockchain etc included) yet disconnected sociologically and ideologically (SWIFT or SPFS, APPLE or Huawei, NATO or...).
Our world cries out (literally) for positive connection between human beings. This can only be found when we are reconnected with the one who connects all humanity, in his creation, his salvation and his plan of redemption. (see part 2).
3 Observations about the beauty of the church working together internationally.
1) OUR WORLD NEEDS TO SEE TRANSPARENT GENEROSITY AND SELFLESSNESS at work.
Private and public beauty.
There is a sense in which we (followers of Jesus Christ) need to be subversive in generosity (Matt 6:4) so that people do not see us. Rather than searching for our generosity be seen, our appropriate grace driven generosity comes from the giver of all good things. Our contentment is nothing other than the fact that God sees that our hearts mirror Christ and what we have received from God in him. Our desire is to point to the one who has changed our heart from selfishness by his selflessness and worship him in appropriate and exclusive offering of love and obedience. (Eph 5:2).
However, one of the ordinances of God for the new community is also the public dimension of displaying counter culture. We are sometimes poor at maintaining this balance appropriately, forgetting that we have been given the express role by The Director, to perform for him with his help within the drama of this world. The histrionics of broken humanity play out every day, and we are here to counter act for this purpose, and to point to a better way under Christ, that there is a different blue print for humanity. A foretaste of the world to come under his control (Deut 1:25, 1 Cor 15:22. 1 Cor 5:19, Rev 21:1-2) can be tangibly viewed in marriage (Eph 5:22-33) or roles of responsibility in civil governance (Eph 6:1-9), but we forget that roles of generosity also fit into this category (Gal 6:10) (Gal 6:2) of displaying profound union with Christ.
Note...
"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matt 5:16).
- The church represents the kingdom of light (Matt 5: 14-15), we are designated ambassadors (2 Cor 5:20) of the one who is light of the world (John 8:12) .
2) IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS, PUBLIC CHRISTLIKENESS ON A SMALL STAGE OF CRISIS HAS WIDE GLOBAL IMPACT. God put us in this place for such a time as this.
In the context of a "crooked and depraved" world Phil 2:14-15 then, the church is the agent of transparency and true beauty. We should never be bashful or ashamed of this. When we work together in the worst and most broken of contexts, (with the best of motives for Christ's glory alone and in his strength), we are seen as trustworthy, true and healthily (appropriately) admired. This is true not just in the locality/ on the ground but wherever (globally) the good news story percolates. Whilst pride must be checked (Jer 17:9) , there is also a sense in which we should not feel awkward about this but instead praise God for it. This has opened many opportunities and bridges for the gospel in Ukraine over recent days, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Iraq, Iran, China.. the list goes on. Wherever God's people act in unity and generosity the gospel advances. In some cultures this has to be more private due to governmental control, and here it shines all the brighter, but when we have freedom to be generous nothing should stop us publicly overflowing in the love of Christ.
3) WE SHOULD BE CAREFUL HOW WE STEWARD, AND USE RESOURCES FOR THE GLORY OF CHRIST THROUGH THE GLOBAL FAMILY OF GOD.
In the last few days we have teams working from several countries, from several denotations (tribes)in numerous crisis situations , but all are one in Christ Jesus. In this sense we are "in the same place". All we have comes from him, and all we are is for him.
For me personally ...several questions of conscience arise out of this. Although I am keen to see any "appropriate aid" go from any "successful" or "efficient" organisation to any hurting humanity made in the image of Christ, I have become increasingly aware of three realities.
1) Secular organisations serve other ultimate purposes, than the glory of Christ and therefore by definition are happy to only pass on 20-40% of a donors funds and spend the rest on administration and their own future in this world. They also do not show the same transparent unity on the ground.
2) Some self proclaimed "Christian" parachurch organisations can exist for themselves in the sense that their primary goal is building a future for themselves as an organisation. They may be run by believers, and they appear united with believers but are not necessarily transparent and largely act in isolated projects for limited periods of crisis (on which they thrive as parasites). Ask two important questions... a) How does an organisation serve the local church? b) What percentage of the giving goes to the end user / how great is the cut of "administration" / "operations" ? If this is not transparent to the giver, don't give !
3) GOSPEL NETWORKS TYPICALLY GET PROPORTIONALLY LITTLE FUNDS IN A CRISIS. Relatively, very few aid organisations are distributing aid through local believer networks for local community impact under the protracted (generational) plan and gospel banner of Christ. Many believers still support aid agencies that spend more on TV advertising and have higher profiles of marketing. Aid organisations which promote psycobabble (" a new day", "fresh start", "to help people be their best selves" "transformational" etc. but conveniently leave off the name of Jesus Christ from all publicity are in my experience unlikely to be in tune with God's eternal purposes in Christ.
What we are looking for is to help the global family of Christ to be encouraged in their calling at the darkest of times. If you find a great agent - back it to the hilt. This is a holistic cross denominational work, accompanied by the declaration of the only answer for all human beings... Jesus Christ . Aid (however it is transported) can only be truly "efficient" with accountability and without favouritism, through long standing / established (biblically submissive) church governance that is in place. Just because a network is attached to a denomination does sadly not guarantee that it isn't corrupt or driven by human ambition. Look for those who will continue to preach and make disciples long after the aid convoys disappear, those who had a track record of doing so long before the crisis started.
Whatever's right for you before God in issues of conscience is good for me. For the reasons (of personal conscience) above I have chosen to dedicate my time, money and energy to ACTION. I praise God for those who set this up as a servant of the worldwide family of Christ, and honour those who have gone before in serving the local church in over 40 nations with this one goal... the glory of Christ.I praise God too for other groupings of God's people who serve in this way for the global kingdom of Christ through the local church. May future generations see this unity at work, and see many brought into the reality of new creation in Christ.
LORD GLORIFY YOUR NAME ALONE, and help us as the global family of Christ to unite in this purpose.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The best of teams: representing Ukraine, Poland, UK and USA working with many denominations.
This Van is a thing of beauty, given by compassion and generosity, packed with love (and genius) , driven to where people are going away from., received where most needed most, by those who will give accountably for the glory of Jesus Christ.
A few friends in a different hub location who came from a Kherson village which no longer exists....
A brilliant tool used by a brilliant team of evangelistic pastors for sharing the love of Jesus Christ with military men who are working hard to protect people. Here is a generator to provide hot tea and coffee... the perfect time to talk about what really matters in life, and death and eternity. Pray for even more of this, hearts are opening and awakenings are happening in the most unlikely and improbable of places... but all orchestrated in God's timing.
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